DUBAI // A housemaid who was filmed on a camera phone hitting her employer’s children and threatening them with a knife was sentenced to six months in prison by the Criminal Court.
Kenyan M N A, 31, was convicted of issuing threats to kill and assaulting the three young children. She was fined Dh1,000 and will be deported after completing her jail term.
K A, 30, the children’s Emirati mother, said on June 2 she returned home from college when another maid who worked in the house told her that M N A had been abusing the children.
Maid A J S said she saw the incident as she was helping M N A feed and shower the children, aged 1, 2 and 6.
“I got home at nearly 8.30pm and A J S came to me and informed me,” said K A. “She then showed me two recordings she managed to take on her mobile phone of M N A as she hit my kids with a wooden spoon all over their bodies and another as she grabbed a knife from the kitchen and took turns placing it on their necks, threatening to kill them if they did not eat and shower.”
K A said the defendant did not deny the incident when she was confronted.
“She was so cold and replied that she was disciplining them,” said K A, who informed police.
Police said that M N A claimed she only intended to scare the children so they would eat properly. Prosecutors said one of recordings showed M N A chasing the children before she placed a large knife to one of their necks. She then counted to three and threatened to kill the children if they did not finish their food.
M N A denied the charges in court last month.
salamir@thenational.ae
